


back 2 u (am 01:27)

by leeminho2828



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bunny/Human Hybrids, Cat Hybrid!Taeyong, Cat/Human Hybrids, Fantasy, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Ghost!Mark, Hanahaki Disease, How Do I Tag, Huang Ren Jun-centric, Hybrids, I hate tagging, M/M, Not at the same time tho, Oop, Polyamory, Shapeshifter!Chenle, Vampire!Jaehyun, Vampire!Jaemin, Vampire!Johnny, Yikes, and then gradually as it gets worse, angel!taeil, buckle up lads, bunny hybrid!Doyoung, demon!Ten, dryad!donghyuck, dryad!renjun, everyone is whipped for renjun, faerie!Sicheng, faerie!yuta, i changed it so hanahaki is where u cough AND puke up flowers, komiho!jisung, lapslock, like in the early stages u cough, my creative juices are NOT flowing, norenmin rights, probably slow updates, renjun is babie, shapeshifter!jungwoo, she's a long one, short and long chapters, sprite!hendery, sprite!xiaojun, sprite!yangyang, taeil is ace sorry guys, warlock!Kun, werewolf!Lucas, werewolf!jeno, why is that not a tag, you start to puke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:27:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22860979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leeminho2828/pseuds/leeminho2828
Summary: the pack crowded around the crying boy, covered in flowers and his own blood. “why wouldn’t you tell us?” someone croaked out, voice breaking slightly. the boy on the floor lightly coughed, another petal fluttering out of his mouth. “i’m sorry, i didn’t know this would happen- that i would die,” the boy softly spoke, voice so quiet the others almost couldn’t hear him. “d-die?” the boys eyes fluttered closed.nct as a pack of wildly mismatched supernatural creatures because i felt like it :3-CURRENTLY ON HOLD-
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Taeyong/Qian Kun, Liu Yang Yang/Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 46
Kudos: 155





	1. can this even be considered a chapter?

**Author's Note:**

> chapters will get longer, i swear. just trying to get into the swing of things ig.

renjun sighed, the flowers surrounding his feet wilting along with his mood. of all people, it had to be him that hopelessly pined after his best friends. everyone else in the pack were in happy, stable relationships. renjun scoffed as guanheng, yangyang and dejun danced around him, a green, blue and orange blur. sprites weren’t always the nicest things to look at. speak of the devil, renjun supposes, seeing jaemin and jeno coming towards him with their hands intwined. jaemin grinned, “how are you today, renjun?” renjun plastered on a smile, “i’m good, jaem. how about you?” jeno laughed, eyes almost disappearing when he smiled. “cut the crap, jaem. we wanted to know if you, huang renjun, would like to come see something with us?” renjuns fake smile slowly shifted into a real one. he never could help himself around these two. 

“depends. am i gonna have to third wheel?” renjun asked, raising an eyebrow. jaemin and jeno giggled, letting go of each others hands. “just a little. come on!” jaemin excitedly grabbed renjuns wrist and started pulling him along. “where are we going?” renjun whined. “that, my friend, is a secret.” jeno said, grabbing renjuns other wrist and pulling him along faster. ouch. friend? yeah, that hurt. renjuns throat felt a bit scratchy. “hang on guys, can i just get some water real quick?” jaemin and jeno turned towards him, so synced it was almost scary. almost. “of course, we’ll wait here.” renjun nodded, turning towards the centre of the village. he passed by taeyong and kun being disgustingly cute and the scratchy feeling came back. renjun cleared his throat, walking a bit faster. 

“renjun! you okay?” renjun spun to his right to see doyoung walking towards him, a worried look on his face. his black bunny ears bounced with every step. cute. renjun was confused, “yeah? why wouldn’t i be?” doyoungs face softened. “renjun, you’re crying. don’t give me a dumb answer.” now renjun was even more confused. his hands flew to his face, and indeed there were wet streaks on his cheeks. “oh, i didn’t realise.” renjun spoke, lower lip jutting out into a pout. doyoung gently shushed him, “what were you looking for? i’ll get it for you.” renjuns pout deepened. “i need water. my throat is dry.” doyoung nodded, turning to go to the villages well. doyoung hesitated at the well, “how much do you need?” renjun pondered for a second, “not much, enough to go on a 3 person picnic with?” renjun figured that jaemin and jeno would get thirsty too. doyoung nodded, lowering the bucket into the well. renjun stared at the floor until doyoung got back.

doyoung wished him well as he made his way back to jaemin and jeno with a bucket of water, renjun letting out a happy hum as a goodbye. as renjun approached jaemin and jeno with the visibly heavy bucket, jeno rushed to help him. renjun thanked him, handing him the bucket. “are you going to tell me where we’re going now?” jeno grinned, adjusting his grip on the bucket. “nope. patience is a virtue, my dear injunnie.” renjun huffed, pout coming on show again. “don’t you pout, you know full well i am a weak, weak man for pouts.” jaemin complained. renjun turned to him, pout only deepening. jaemin sighed, “you’re too cute for your own good, injunnie.” jeno glared at jaemin, “don’t you dare tell him. no kisses for a week if you do.” jaemin turned to his boyfriend with an offended gasp. “how dare you deprive me! kids these days really have no conscience.” jeno crossed his arms, “jaem, are you forgetting that time you-“ renjun laughed nervously, his throat itching further than before, “while i love seeing you guys fight, lets just go so we don’t waste any more time than we already have.”

jaemin and jeno nodded, jaemin grabbing renjuns wrist for the second time that day. they started walking again, jaemins grip on renjuns arm never loosening. renjun really could use some water right now.


	2. i can't title chapters still, whoops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> filler chapter, sorry. second chap is up tho!! yay!!

jaemin covered renjuns eyes with the palm of his hand as they neared the clearing in the middle of the forest. renjun could hear jeno excitedly humming to himself as they neared whatever it was jaemin and jeno were taking him to. when renjuns eyes were finally, blissfully, uncovered, he squinted at the amount of light that flooded his vision. when his vision came to, he gasped at the sight laid out in front of him. the cutest little wooden cottage stood there, hidden by the thick trees and covered in tangling vines. it had a rustic look to it, and a small rose garden lining the side. run down as it looked, renjun adored it already. “was this already here, or did you build it?” renjun asked, eyes shining as he turned towards jaemin and jeno. jaemin and jeno shared a look, “we built it around 4 weeks ago, for your birthday. kun helped, because we’re idiots sometimes. yes, it’s not your birthday quite yet, but we couldn’t wait. we also furnished the inside especially for you.” jeno answered, setting the bucket of water next to his feet. 

renjun squealed happily, flowers sprouting up near his feet and trees whispering in delight. the dryad ran towards the house, flowers following his steps. he first approached the flower beds, small and quaint. he ran his hands over the vines encasing the outer walls, smiling when he saw the small flowers that had begun to sprout on them. jaemin and jeno watched fondly, smiling stupidly whenever renjun let out an excited gasp. renjun turned towards them questioningly. “can i go in? do i need a key?” jaemin fished around in his pocket for a moment, before triumphantly holding up the set of keys. he walked to renjun and renjun stared at the keys in his hands like they were worth all the worlds money. the keys jingled as they passed from one set of hands to the other, renjun cradling them before skipping happily to the door. the set of keys had the cutest little moomin keyring on it. renjun could feel tears pricking at his eyes, but he blinked them away quickly. he then unlocked the door and went in.

the room was dark, save for a string of LED lights that lined the front hallway. there was a hall table on the left side, lined with framed photos of renjun with various members of the pack. the polished wooden floor was lined with a maroon patterned carpet with tassels at each end. the hall ended when an opening to another room started. it was on the left of the hallway, an open space with a pale carpet, red couches and a wooden table. there was a tv mounted on the wall, a large window just to the left of it so you could see out into the woods. a staircase was directly opposite the living room, and a small bathroom was to the right of the staircase. renjun wanted to explore each and every crevice of the house. “how is the house so big in the interior? its exterior looks tiny!” jaemin smiled sheepishly, “that was all kun. jeno and i are hopeless with this kind of stuff. a vampire, nor a werewolf don’t have any magical building powers, unfortunately for you, my dear injunnie.” 

renjun scrunched his nose up, “whats with all the ‘my dear injunnie’s coming from you two today? it’s kinda weirding me out,” jaemin flapped a hand at renjun absentmindedly. “don’t you wanna explore the rest of it? there’s like, 7 more rooms to get to.” renjun perked up again at the prospect of more rooms. he skipped his way to the kitchen and another area with a high ceiling and couches. the entryway to this area had a set of doors leading to it, to the right of the entryway of the living room. “how many floors does this house have?” renjun queried, peeking his head through the doorway. jeno thought for a second, “three, i think.” renjun let out a gasp, “three? you gave me a three storey house?” jaemin and jeno just grinned in response. renjun gaped at them for a moment more, before turning his attention back to the big area. standing in the doorway, the kitchen was to his right, all marble counters and shiny items littered around. to his left stood a piano, and lining the walls, way up to the top of the high ceiling, were windows. 

across from the piano was another set of couches, this time beige, with another pattered carpet and a single armchair diagonal from the couches. in the middle of that area was another wooden coffee table, this time with drawers attached. there was a huge window in the shape of a triangle on top of the glass doors leading to a patio with a round table, chairs, and cute grey couches. across from the kitchen was a dining table with a moomin tablecloth draped over it. renjun turned from his spot in the doorway. “let’s go up the stairs! i wanna see what’s upstairs!” renjun squealed, taking the steps two by two. he was immediately greeted with yet another living area, this time with black couches. “i swear, if i see another couch i will scream.” renjun threatened. jaemin and jeno gave each other a worried look. there was an indoor balcony overlooking the area with the beige couches, and to the right of that was another set of doors which renjun assumed to lead to the master bedroom. turns out, as he pushed inside the room, he was right. the bed was huge, two bedside tables on either side of the bed. both of the bedside tables had lamps on them, glowing with soft yellow light. a dresser was on the right side of the bed, and there was a small hallway leading to a walk-in closet, a sliding door closet and a bathroom.

the closet was already filled with all kinds of clothes, shoes and jewellery. the sliding door closet was filled with art supplies, must have been jenos’ idea. renjun longed to jump on the bed, but there were still rooms to explore. he reluctantly turned and walked out of the room, swiftly making his way to the outdoor balcony which had a glass door to walk through. he looked out upon the woods that surrounded him, took a deep breath and went to explore after clearing his head a little bit. he first went into the room on his left. it was a plain guest room, a sliding door closet and chest of drawers in it, along with a double bed, two mirrors and a bookshelf. the bed was in front of the window, with another window just to the left of the bed. it had an ensuite attached to it. he next went into the room across from it. it was another guest room. the layout of the items were different, but the same things were in the room. he went out, jaemin and jeno watching him go from room to room, amused. renjun went up a dark grey carpeted staircase, the first thing he sees being shelves with colourful boxes. he looked to his left, standing at the top of the narrow staircase, and saw a white table with a computer and rickety-looking chair with cushions on it. he went further into the room, seeing a whiteboard hung up above another shelf. 

there was another tv, mounted on a tv stand. there were stacks of dvds next to it. renjun gave jaemin and jeno his best ‘really?’ look he could, for there was yet another couch to his right. renjun opened his mouth to scream, but jaemin and jeno were faster. they ran towards him, covering his mouth before he could get a sound out. renjuns heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. jaemin chuckled nervously, “no screaming, please. my ears would hurt, and then i would complain. no one likes it when i complain.” renjun supposed he had a point. renjuns eyes were wide now, both jaemin and jeno not showing any signs of removing their hands. jeno looked at renjuns expression, taking his hand back like he had just been burnt. “sorry,” he mumbled. jaemin reluctantly removed his hand, studying renjuns face if he were going to attempt to scream again. “s-sorry- just ex-excuse me for a second.” renjun said, hurrying his way down the stairs again. he speed-walked his way to the master bedroom, throat on fire. he scratched at it futilely, a sob working its way up his sore throat. he quickly got under the covers, head and all, and allowed himself to cough. it was only meant to be one, quick cough to relieve the itch in his throat, but what was meant to be one turned into many. 

his eyes were tightly screwed shut by the time he finished, not daring to open them until he was sure they were gone. he opened his eyes slowly. with the small amount of light he could see, he found dark shapes surrounding him, lying perfectly still on the sheets below him. alarmed, he pulled the covers back, first spotting the many, many blood-covered petals. he then rose his head to look at the doorway, seeing jaemin and jeno there, pained expressions on their faces. his eyes widened, getting off the bed and covering the petals with the blanket. wordlessly, they left the room, and renjun was so utterly fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed! sorry for slow updates :/


	3. confrontation+ chenji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun seeks out jaemin and jeno after johnny talks to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> third chapter is up! sorry for the wait <33

renjun didn’t encounter either jaemin or jeno in the following week. renjun instead hung out with his fellow dryad, donghyuck, and a few other members like sicheng and kun because they give good advice. renjun sulked around the whole week, and by the end of it, the rest of the pack were sick of it. “look, i’m not trying to be rude or- stop screaming, it’s just me. stop screaming!” johnny said, appearing behind renjun so suddenly he startled. vampires and their stupid ability to be dead silent. “anyway, i’m not trying to be rude or anything but please get off your ass and talk to jaemin and jeno. i’m so fucking sick of hearing their whining about you. they’re really worried, you know?” renjun couldn’t believe it. the bastards who had avoided him like plague were worried? renjun calls bullshit.

johnny continued on, “all they’ve been talking about for the past week have been how ‘injunnie is avoiding me!’ this, and ‘injunnieeeee, come back to me please’ that, in their dumb, whiny voices.” renjun was beyond shocked at this point. they thought that renjun was avoiding them. “where are they?” renjun found himself blurting out. johnny grinned, “house. they’ve been sleeping in your bed together for the whole week.” renjun thanked him quickly, then ran to the clearing in the forest. as he approached the house, he slowed his steps down. hesitation flooded him, heart pounding. nevertheless, he felt around in his pockets for the set of keys. unlocking the door, he stepped inside the hallway. he stopped mid-step almost as soon as he started walking, hearing jaemin and jeno talking from upstairs. “what if he comes here? jaem, what are we supposed to say after walking out on him when he was clearly distressed?” renjun heard a sigh, “jeno, he thinks we’ve been avoiding him. why would he come here? i guess, in the case he did, we would get on our damn knees and apologise.”

renjun was running up the stairs now. he turned at the top of the staircase, heading towards his bedroom. he stopped just in the doorway, seeing jaemin and jeno sitting on his bed. “r-renjun?” jeno croaked out, eyes glassy. jaemin, who hadn’t noticed his entry, looked towards jeno in confusion before looking towards the doorway. jaemin gasped, jumping off the bed and walking towards renjun quickly. jeno quickly followed. renjuns face got squished into a pair of hands, being suddenly bombarded with questions. “are you okay? why did you avoid us? is it because we walked out? can you forgive us?” renjun freed himself from the hands squishing his face. “i’m fine. i thought you guys were ignoring me. if i’d had any thought whatsoever that you felt differently, i would’ve come sooner. of course i can forgive you, you big idiots.” jeno squealed, his wolf side coming out with the sudden change in emotion. big, fluffy ears popped up, as did a tail, wagging wildly. whenever jeno got too happy, his wolf side would half come out, creating some kind of weird hybrid. it was cute. 

jaemin just wordlessly hugged renjun, but renjun could feel his smile as he pressed his face into renjuns neck despite being so much taller. “ah, we need to talk about this though. come sit on the bed.” jeno said, interrupting renjun and jaemins hug. they broke off the hug, jaemin picking renjun up and quite literally throwing him onto the bed. renjun hit the bed with a small squeak, jeno laughing at his expense. “hate to ruin the mood, but renjun, we have a few questions.” renjun nodded hesitantly, indicating for jeno to continue. “first off, were or are you sick?” jeno and jaemin clearly still vividly remembered when renjun had cowered underneath the blanket and hacked up his lungs. well, shit. “uh, i had a cold then. i’m fine now though, don’t worry. it passed.” jaemin and jeno looked relieved. “next question! are you actually okay? like, with us?” renjun blanched. “yeah! yeah, i told you i’m fine.” renjun nervously laughed, throat itching like crazy, similarly to last week. jaemin and jeno looked suspicious but they nodded anyway. 

“i mean, i would press the actual answer out of you, but i really feel like we should do a makeup cuddle session. thoughts?” jeno proposed. jaemin nodded, gathering renjun up again to place him in between jeno and him, throwing the blanket over the three of them. renjun placed his arm over jeno, snuggling into his side. this made jaemin whine. “quit whining, you big baby. i’ll alternate between you two.” jeno hummed, arms wrapping around renjuns much smaller body. jaemin huffed but wrapped his arms around the other side of renjun, snuggling his head into renjuns shoulder. promptly, they all fell asleep, tangled up in each other. 

-

when renjun woke up, he found himself uncomfortably hot and sandwiched between jeno and jaemin, jeno having shifted to his wolf form in his sleep. renjun wiggled his way out of them the best he could before walking down to the kitchen to get something to eat and drink. he ended up finding absolutely nothing in either the fridge or the pantry, so instead he went to the community diner. upon entering the diner, he was immediately called over by a large group of people. there were about eighteen people there, not including himself. renjun walked over quickly, spotting the bright colours of xiaojun, hendery and yangyang first. yangyang grinned brightly at him, patting a spot next to him and across from jungwoo and lucas. “hey man! i haven’t seen you in forever! how’ve you been?” lucas asked, resting his head on his hand and grinning childishly. renjun couldn’t help but grin back. 

“i’m good! how’ve you been? hope you sorted things with jungwoo.” he lowered his voice for that last part, though it’s not like jungwoo would have noticed; he was too busy yelling at ten across the table. lucas’ smile dropped for a second before it was back in full force. “yep, jungwoo and i are absolutely fine! i hope you sorted things with jaemin and jeno.” renjun nodded, turning his attention to chenle, who had been trying to get his attention for the past three minutes. “renjun, renjun, renjun! huang renjun!” renjun rolled his eyes, “what could possibly be so important you had to yell at me for three minutes straight?” chenle brightened up, “jisung finally confessed! i needed to tell you the day it happened but you weren’t around, so i’m telling you now.” renjuns mouth dropped open. “motherfucker! you owe me 50!” jaehyun yelled at johnny, who had both apparently been listening in. “wait, what? chenle and jisung got together? since when?” doyoung questioned. 

yangyang cackled hysterically at his boyfriends who were begrudgingly getting out their wallets. the table was absolute chaos. chenle decided that he had gotten enough attention, so he shifted into a mouse and crawled into the hood of jisungs jumper. “oh, no you don’t! you have some explaining to do.” kun said, reaching into the hood. he pulled a squirming chenle out. “shift back, or i’ll permanently make you a mouse.” chenle shifted back in an instant, face bright red. “when, where, how. tell me.” kun demanded. chenle looked towards jisung, who had put the hood over his head and tied the strings to hide his face. chenle sighed, before untying the string and pulling the hood back, jisungs ears flopping back out when they were released from their confines. 

unsurprisingly, jisungs face was also bright red, not used to all this attention. “when? yesterday afternoon. where?” chenle turned towards jisung again, face reddening again. “behind the school, where the dumpsters are.” everyone at the table started screaming. “you’re telling me,” the screams quietened. “that you let jisung confess to you in the middle of a bunch of fucking trash? and you said YES?” yuta shouted, slamming his hands on the table, making chenle flinch. jisung interrupted, “in my defence, we were gonna be late for class and there was nowhere else quiet enough.” that arose more shouts, “that is no excuse!” taeyong yelled, ears flat from all the noise. “okay, okay, shush.” the table quietened once more. “how? jisung just kinda blurted it. i was a fly at the time, i was on his nose, and he just… i don’t know, said it.” chenle explained. johnny started laughing, causing everyone else to. “well,” johnny spoke through his giggles, “as long as you’re happy!” chenle kissed jisungs cheek gently, and jisung pulled his hood up again, everyone hooting at them.


	4. renjun=big dumb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun is an idiot who is too obvious and drinks too much water.

renjun drank litre after litre of water, but nothing seemed to ease the burning itch in his throat. “hey, are you trying to become one with the sea or what? i though you were a dryad, not a nymph.” winwin joked, in his faerie form. renjun turned towards the tiny sicheng with an exasperated look. the faeries’ wings were flitting behind him so quickly renjun couldn’t register anything but a blur. “i’m just… oddly thirsty today, i guess,” renjun shrugged. sicheng scoffed, “i’ve never seen you drink this much in a day- hell, i’ve never seen anyone drink this much in a day, jesus renjun,” renjun just rolled his eyes, taking another sip from the obnoxiously large waterbottle. “and what the fuck might you two want?” renjun startled, choking on his water. ten stood there, arms crossed and a bored expression on his face, one hip cocked to the side. 

renjun coughs, hand thumping on his chest and free hand coming to cover his mouth. ten merely smirks, shifting his weight to the other hip. “you good there, renjun? need help?” renjun shook his head, letting a few more coughs out. when he pulled his hand back, it was covered in saliva and blood. renjun manoeuvred the water bottle to his blood-covered hand to cover the blood stains. “where did you come from?” sicheng inquired, wings folding into his back as he shifted back to his human form. ten rolled his eyes. “i thought you fucks would’ve known by now that certain words summon me. which one of you said what?” ten threateningly pointed. renjun looked towards sicheng, “it was him. he said hell,” renjun blamed. sicheng glared at renjun, “while that may be true- actually, i have nothing to say to that. yeah, it was me,” 

ten once again rolled his eyes, poofing into thin air. “he really scares me sometimes.” sicheng remarked, wings unfolding as he flitted away, probably to go find yuta. renjun stared at his half-empty water bottle with distaste, taking another sip just because. 

-

renjun decided he had had enough of being outdoors for today, but the moment he entered his house, he almost walked straight back out. the inside of his house absolutely reeked of wet dog, and to renjuns utter bemusement, he found a very soggy wolf lying on his couch. “fucking hell, jeno! get off the couch and shift back! you’re going to ruin the leather, you dumb shit.” the white wolf whimpered, reluctantly stretching and padding off of the couch. “go shift back and dry yourself. what were you even doing?” jeno merely padded up the stairs, paws making faint sounds as they hit the polished wood. renjun set to work with cleaning the couch, making sure it was dry and the leather wasn’t damaged.

“isn’t that boring?” jaemins voice sounded from behind him. “you always do this!” renjun whined after jumping three feet in the air. he seems to do that a whole hell of a lot. jaemin smirked, leaning his weight on the wall closest to renjun. jaemin cleared his throat, “need help?” renjun looked to the couch and then back to jaemin, “i just finished. jeno is upstairs, by the way.” jaemin nodded, watching renjun wipe the last remaining bit of water away. “what was he doing to get that wet anyway?” jaemin laughed, “we went down to the lake for a small picnic date. jeno got overexcited and shifted, then proceeded to throw himself into the lake,” renjun nodded, throat itching yet again. “do you know where my water bottle went? i’m thirsty,” renjun stated, shuffling around the coffee table to face jaemin. 

jaemin furrowed his eyebrows, “you need to stop drinking water. i know it’s good for you and all, but sicheng mentioned the amount you’ve been drinking and i don’t think your stomach-or bladder- can take much more.” renjun stomped his foot, “jaeminnie, you don’t understand. i am so thirsty. i feel like i’ve just run three marathons with no water!” maybe that was an exaggeration, but jaemin didn’t need to know that. jaemin sighed, “i put it in the fridge.” and that was all that jaemin needed to say. renjun ran into the kitchen, gladly getting his water bottle and draining it completely, going to the sink to fill it up again. jaemin heard jeno coming back down the stairs and went to greet him while renjun was at the sink.

jeno and jaemin walked into the kitchen holding hands, and renjun was again reminded that both jaemin and jeno were completely unattainable. with just one glance at the interlocked fingers, renjun was back to downing his water. by this time, it was certain that renjun had become more water than plant. he should just go live with the nymphs in the lake. jeno sighed, walking to renjun and taking his water bottle from his hands. renjun scratched at his throat as a reaction to not having water to soothe the itch. jeno looked at him weirdly, and renjun reluctantly lowered his hands. “are you sick?” jaemin inquired, walking forward and leaning his weight on the counter. renjun scrunched his nose up, “no. what made you think that?” jeno half laughed, half scoffed, “oh, maybe just you drinking a lot of water, and when you don’t have the water you scratch at your throat.” renjun shoved him lightly, “is a dryad not allowed to be thirsty?” jeno rolled his eyes.

“you know that’s not what i meant. go visit the doctor, or kun, and see if they can diagnose anything. jaemin and i will go with you to make sure,” renjun panicked, “you guys, i’d be more comfortable going on my own, or not going at all,” jeno looked at him with a deadpan expression, “you can go alone, but jaemin and i will escort you there to make sure you actually went,” renjun made to grab his water bottle, but was stopped by jeno, “go to the doctor, either today or tomorrow,” looking outside, renjun figured it was too dark by now to go disturb kun, and he didn’t want to go to the doctor, “i’ll go tomorrow.” it was decided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading everyone! hope you're enjoying so far. i have planned out 30 chapters so far, but that may change as the story goes on and i get more ideas. sorry this chapter was so short :(


	5. wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> all renjun can do is wait

approaching the doctors clinic, renjun felt his heart race. he didn’t want to be here, he really didn’t want to be here. especially not with jaemin and jeno trailing behind him. pushing open the door, he was greeted with the scent of antiseptic and hand sanitiser. the receptionist greeted them with a friendly smile, “do you have a booking or are you a walk-in?” the receptionist asked, turning expectantly towards renjun. renjun fiddled nervously with the sleeves of his sweater, “walk-in.” he answered shortly. the receptionist nodded, turning her attention to jaemin and jeno, “and you two? are you accompanying him?” jaemin and jeno nodded, jeno placing his hand on the small of renjuns back. the itch in renjuns throat and the weight in his chest got significantly worse. 

“i’ll check when the doctor can see you. what have you come in for today?” the receptionist typed on her computer before turning back to renjun, “i have been showing symptoms of a pretty bad cough recently, so i just want to check if everything’s alright,” renjun explained. “he can see you in about twenty minutes. have a seat in the waiting room; the doctor will call you when he’s ready,” renjun thanked her, walking over to the two-seater couch. jeno and jaemin, despite the couch being a two-seater, squished in on either side of renjun. renjun gasped out, “guys, there is not meant to be this many people on this couch,” renjun felt jeno and jaemin simultaneously shrug on either side of him. 

renjun rolled his eyes, deciding to just let himself be squished and make himself as comfortable as possible. “huang renjun?” a wide-eyed nurse came into the room, smiling widely. renjun stood up, hands shaking, “you guys stay here,” renjun instructed, striding over to the nurse. she looked down at the clipboard she held in her arms, studying it before gently taking renjuns arm and leading him to where renjun supposed the doctors office is. the door was slightly ajar, the nurse pushing it open and gesturing renjun inside. renjun hesitantly stepped inside the room, hands clutching at the bottom of his shirt. the doctor turned in his swivel chair (renjuns always wanted a swivel chair but he’s never been allowed one) absentmindedly, twirling a pen between his fingers. upon noticing his patient, he stopped the chair, cleared his throat, and turned his full attention to renjun. renjun stifled a bubbling laugh. 

“hello, i’m doctor jung ilhoon, you can call me dr. jung if you wish. what can i help you with today?” the doctors glasses were haphazardly placed on the top of his head, adding an almost comical look to the situation. “hello, i am here because i have been coughing up flower petals,” ilhoon nodded, a blank look on his face. realisation of what renjun just said hit, and he turned towards him with a bewildered expression. “coughing up… flower petals?” he sounded completely dumbfounded. renjun nodded slowly. “and when did this start? recently?” renjun nodded again, mind flitting to jaemin and jeno who were probably being cheesy bastards together in the waiting room. “i’m sorry, but i have never heard of this in my entire twenty-five years of living. are you completely, utterly, totally sure?” ilhoon squinted up at him. “yes, definitely. the worst case of coughing up flower petals i had was a couple of weeks ago.” renjun recounted. 

ilhoon nodded, still visibly confused. “look, i don’t know how much i can help you with this. i recommend you go out of town to get this checked out, probably within a year would be best. it’s unlike anything i’ve ever seen or treated before.” dr. jung rested his head on his palm thoughtfully. he waved renjun out of the room, the nurse coming to his side to escort him back to the waiting room. on his way out, he heard the doctor mutter, “coughing up flowers? what a load of bullshit!” renjuns chest tightened. upon sighting, jaemin and jeno stood up. “how’d it go?” renjun shrugged, a lump in his throat, “they didn’t diagnose me with anything. i told you guys i’d be fine.” he lied. jaemin and jeno nodded in satisfaction, leading him up to the counter for payment. the receptionist held up a sheet of paperwork for renjun to sign, finalising a record and payment for his visit. renjun signed the sheet, not glancing at the cost, and handed it back. 

she smiled before wishing them a nice day. renjun swiftly walked out the door, tailed by jaemin and jeno. “i am so glad you’re okay!” jaemin gushed, clinging to renjuns arm. “i don’t know what i would have done with myself had you not been.” he continued, grip bruising. renjun laughed wetly, chest aching. renjun was having an inner turmoil. he re-thought what the doctor told him, “i recommend you go out of town to get this checked out.” out of town where? how soon? renjun had no idea. “c’mon guys, i think we should go to the diner for celebration that our dear injunnie is okay!” jeno suggested, almost vibrating with excitement. renjun and jaemin easily agreed, so they changed their route and headed towards the village centre. 

the door jingled as it opened, a worker sweeping up some mess that was left on the floor. he looked up from his work and greeted them, telling them to have a seat. the trio seated themselves in a booth not too far away from the door. renjun perused the menu, despite already knowing what he wanted to order. jaemin and jeno sat across from him, whispering to each other and giggling occasionally. renjuns throat itched, “i’m just gonna go to the bathroom,” renjun said, a cough threatening to break out. he covered his mouth with his elbow and ran to the bathroom, suppressing coughs the whole while. jaemin and jeno watched him go, “minnie, do you think there’s something he’s not telling us?” jeno asked, head on jaemins shoulder. jaemin nodded, a frown on his face. “definitely. it’s either he’s way sicker than we initially thought, or he hates us.” 

jeno shifted on jaemins shoulder, “if he hates us, i’d seriously be hurt and i would throw myself off of a cliff,” jeno sniffed. jaemin made an almost incoherent noise of agreement. “i highly doubt he hates us,” jaemin stated, hand coming up to absentmindedly stroke through jenos hair. jeno leaned into the touch, making a small noise in the back of his throat. jaemin smiled down at him, turning serious when they saw renjun coming back from the bathroom. jaemin smiled at him, “you good?” renjun returned the smile, a little less enthusiastically, but at least it was there. he nodded. it was progress. “you guys figured out what to order yet?” jaemin and jeno nodded. “okay, i’ll call the waiter over.” the waiter came over, smile on his face and notepad in hand. he was kind of cute, renjun supposed. a round face, heart shaped smile and fluffy black hair. the name tag on his uniform read ‘kyungsoo’. 

“what can i get for you today?” he asked, smile never once wavering. “i’ll take the steak and chips with a chocolate milkshake, please,” jeno grinned up at the waiter, who was writing down his order. ‘kyungsoo’ then turned his attention to jaemin, who cleared his throat. “just regular chips and a glass of water, thanks,” kyungsoo nodded, finally turning to renjun, “and for you?” renjun looked up at the waiter, whose smile never faltered as he waited for an answer. “i’ll take the soup special and a glass of banana milk.” jaemin scrunched up his nose. “banana milk? seriously injunnie?” kyungsoo butted in, “i happen to think that banana milk is really good.” renjun looked at kyungsoo like he was the whole universe. renjun turned to jaemin with a pout on his face and his arms crossed, “see? he gets me.” kyungsoo smiled his heart shaped smile once again, “the food will be out in around ten minutes.” the trio nodded, jaemin and jeno going back to being all lovey with each other, leaving renjun on his own. 

renjun pondered over his situation while he waited. leave, or stay? he bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself leaving, walking away from the diner, and out of jaemin and jenos’ lives. leave, or stay? he fiddled with a loose thread on the hem of his shirt to keep him grounded, to keep him from acting out. to keep jaemin and jeno clueless. leave, or stay? it was only a matter of time before renjun would have to leave. present moment, renjun decided that all he could do for now is research his disease, and wait. wait for what? renjun didn’t know. jaemin and jeno kept blabbering on and on, but their words fell on deaf ears. all renjun had to do, is just keep still and wait. keep still and wait. renjun could do that, at least. if he had to leave, he would leave on his own accord, when he wants. no doctor can tell him when he had to leave. if he had to leave, he would leave later rather than sooner. 

renjun decided, that as long as he had his friends and family, he’d be alright in the long run. maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry for slow updates!! i'll try to get better i swear :((  
> not rlly feeling the ending today whoops  
> AND IM SORRY FOR MAKING ILHOON AN ASSHOLE


	6. research

after saying his goodbyes to jaemin and jeno, renjun practically sprinted his way back home. he gathered a small bag of stuff; his glasses, a water bottle, a notebook and a pencil case. after that, he ran to the community library to see if he could find anything. he didn’t have the money to buy a computer at the moment, so the library was his best bet. he flung open the doors, the librarian giving him a dirty look. he bowed apologetically and sheepishly smiled, slowing his steps and walking towards an empty table. he set his bag on the table, next to the small potted plant that rested on the table. he made sure to get a window seat as he found it easier to focus if he were surrounded by nature. the library having been overlooking the lake, it was the perfect spot. renjun walked through shelf after shelf after shelf, trying to find something- anything that could help him. 

he gave up eventually, deciding to go to the librarian for help. the librarian gave him a quizzical look as he approached. “hello, what can i help you with today?” renjun cleared his throat, hands clasped in front of him. “do you happen to have any books on uncommon diseases?” the librarian stood, nodding, and lead him to the medicinal section. “any disease in particular?” the librarian inquired. renjun thought for a second, “any books about coughing up flowers?” the librarians face lit up in recognition, “i think we do. hanahaki disease, i believe.” she muttered, busying herself with finding a book that could help him. renjun thought over the name, sounding it out in his head. ‘han-a-hak-i. hanahaki. hana-haki. weird.’ 

the librarian made a noise of triumph as she pulled out a book. it was titled ‘Uncommon Diseases; All You Need To Know.’ renjun could work with this. “would you like another book for more detail?” the librarian asked, peering through her glasses at him. “no, thank you.” the librarian nodded and smiled. “i’ll go back to the counter now. come back if you need any more help.” renjun nodded, taking the book from her hands and thanking her again. he made his way back to his table. he liked that the librarian didn’t question him about anything, gave him peace of mind. when he got to his table, he saw his bag had been moved to rest on the seat. across from his seat sat an old classmate of his, wang yiren. 

he sat down, placing his bag on the floor and the book on the table. “hi, yiren.” she smiled at him, resting her head on her hands. “hi, how are you? i haven’t seen you in ages.” she comments, cocking her head to the side from where it was resting on her hands. renjun gives her a short, stiff nod. “i’m good, yeah. it has been a while, i suppose. how are you?” he replies, to be polite more than anything. her smile becomes even wider, not unlike the cheshire cat at this point. “i’m well. whatcha studying?” her high pitched voice bothered renjun to no end. “uncommon diseases.” he answers shortly. “oh? any in particular?” yiren was really starting to bother renjun now. “not really.” he was really hoping she’d take the hint. she didn’t, and continued to talk. with how dry renjun was being, it was a wonder she could even find anything to say. 

yiren did leave eventually, after getting a call from her mother asking where she was. she left with a hurried goodbye, promising to talk to him soon. renjuns mood lifted after she left, opening the book and scouring the page of contents. there, listed as chapter 17, page 266, was hanahaki disease. renjun took a deep breath before flipping through the pages. page 18, page 64, page 92… so on it went until finally, page 266. the title was bold, a small definition written directly underneath it. he skimmed the page, eyes lingering on things he might find useful.

-

Hanahaki Disease  
Hanahaki Disease (花吐き病) translates literally into “flower vomiting”.  
This diseases’ symptoms include: Coughing up flowers, vomiting up flowers, itchy throat, unnatural thirst, heavy weight (normally in the chest area) and coughing up blood. 

Hanahaki disease is where the victim coughs/vomits up flowers when they suffer from unrequited love.   
This disease can potentially be fatal and will kill the victim. It can end when the victims love returns their feelings. This can only be romantically, however. Another option is to go through with the surgical process, however, your romantic feelings for the other person/s will disappear with the flower. If the victim chooses not to go through with the surgical removal, or the feelings aren’t returned in time- or even at all- the victim will die. 

The flowers that the victim regurgitates will either be their loves favourite flower, or their favourite colour. The average length of the disease cannot be specified as it varies from person to person and how strongly they feel for their love. Recent studies, however, have shown that the longest case ever recorded was eight-and-a-half months, and the shortest was a mere 48 hours. 

The process begins when the victim starts to feel an irritation in the back of their throat, not unlike a common sore throat. In worse cases, the irritation will feel like they have poison ivy coating their throat. The next step would be coughing up blood. This starts to happen when the flowers begin to grow, when they’re budding. The amount of blood you cough up won’t be much, generally an average of 2-5mLs. Next would be the petals, along with blood. Of course, this happens when the flowers start to grow from the buds. The flowers would then wilt due to lack of nutrition and sunlight, and soon would enter the airways when they fall off of the stem. This is when you start to cough the actual flowers up. The next stage is when it starts to get worse. The flowers will start to adapt to being in the victims body, meaning they can sustain themselves for longer. This also means that they will grow in other places, thus explaining the vomit. They do grow around the stomach area, and in some cases have begun to grow inside the stomach. That only happens in very, very rare cases. The final process is when the flowers begin to grow bigger. Once again, this begins in the lungs. The flowers, at first, only grow to around the size of a ping-pong ball, then gradually grow bigger until they reach their final stage. When they reach this, the victim will barely be able to breath as they have flowers as big as baseballs growing on and around the lungs. The victim, in their last days, will be bed-ridden and practically immobile. 

As was mentioned before, this process as a whole can last however short or long, depending on the strength of the victims love. 

-

renjun read every word, almost drinking the information in, mouth agape. if this is what he was going to go through, renjun wanted out. he decided to go back to the shelves in which he found the other book in hopes to find another of the same material. when he had found one, he searched for another, and another. time flew past him as he read, minutes fading into hours. he got too engrossed in the pages, wanting to learn everything he possibly could. it was nearing four in the morning when renjun accidentally fell asleep, head resting on the book he was reading. then, it was nearing nine in the morning when jaemin and jeno frantically burst into the library, searching for renjun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i thought i'd just quickly write this chap for u guys seeing as i dont usually do quick updates bc it takes me AGES to write the chapters. this one, though, i had so much fun writing! especially the 'article' abt hanahaki, which i totally bullshitted my way through lmao.  
> hope u enjoyed!! <33 thank u my lovelies


	7. jaemin and jeno = panic

jaemin and jeno had been looking for renjun for what felt like forever. after they parted ways at the diner, they hadn’t heard a single thing from the dryad. they searched the whole village, asked almost everyone they encountered, and yet, nothing. their last resort had to be the library, closed off as it was from the rest of the village. jeno shifted to his wolf form to keep up with jaemins vampire speed, both being a multi-coloured blur as they ran. by the time they got to the library, they were covered in sweat and dirt, not very welcome for a library. the librarian took one look at them and sighed, plastering on her customer service smile nonetheless. 

they rushed up to the counter, jeno still in his white wolf form, the white of his coat having been hindered by dirt. “excuse me, have you seen a dryad anywhere? about 170cm tall, light brown hair, squishy cheeks, really tiny, adorable-“ it took a small nudge from jeno for jaemin to realise he was rambling. the librarian just softly smiled, recognising the affection in jaemins voice. “are you talking about him?” the librarian pointed to where renjun was, fast asleep with his head on an open book. jaemin hurriedly thanked the librarian, jeno letting out some kind of weird “hmph” as thanks. they speed-walked over to renjun, gently shaking his shoulders to wake him. 

“renjunnie, injun, wake up.” jaemin whispered, jeno nudging renjuns thigh with his snout. renjun groggily awoke with a small “hm?” as his sleep-addled brain caught up. jaemin internally cooed at renjun. how damn cute could he be? renjuns hair was all messed up and fluffy, and his cheeks were puffy after sleeping. jaemin had noticed that renjun had unknowingly brought one of the potted plants lining the windowsill to him, cuddling it while he slept. a dryad thing, jaemin guessed. he had seen donghyuck do it on many an occasion. the flowers were about two times bigger than they were the day before as well, another dryad tendency. 

“j-jaemin!” renjun jolted up, hands scrambling to cover all the books he had been reading, protectively curling his arms around them. jaemin frowned suspiciously, jeno making a confused “ehh?” sound, something he did even in his human form whenever he got confused. renjun just smiled nervously, picking up the stack of books and standing. “i’ll just go return these.” he said, shuffling out of his seat. “w-wait here.” he instructed, making himself smaller instinctively. jaemin turned to jeno. “can you please shift back? i know you won’t be decent enough to be in public, but you’re more level-headed than me. i’m gonna end up crying, please jeno?” jeno, in his wolf form, shook his head vigorously, sending dirt flying every which way. 

jaemin huffed, sitting in the seat opposite where renjun had been studying.   
jaemin noticed he left a book behind, and was about to go to renjun and give him the book, but that’s when the title caught his eye. why had renjun been researching diseases? is this why renjun had been coughing so much recently? jaemin picked up the book and found where renjun had bookmarked it. the title of the page read ‘Hanahaki Disease’. hanahaki disease? jaemin read down the page, mortified. puking up blood and flowers, dying from suffocation of the lungs. the more he read, the more horrified he became. is this what’s been going on with him? 

the graphic diagrams littered across the page did nothing to help how utterly sick jaemin felt. this had to be what renjun was hiding. but who would he be in love with? it clearly stated that in order to contract the disease, you had to have an unrequited love, but who would renjun be in love with? there was donghyuck, but whenever anyone brought up how cute they looked together, renjun would have a look of disgust plastered on his face for the remainder of the day. dejun? it was possible, the way renjun looked at dejun… jaemin almost didn’t want to look at them when they were together. then again, dejun was already hopelessly in love with guanheng and yangyang, and that goes against every single one of renjuns morals. 

jeno? jaemin thought that one over. renjun did have a certain starry-eyed look whenever he looked at jeno. there was an urgent nudging at his thigh. he snapped back from his thoughts, looking down to see jeno whining at him and nudging him. when he saw that jaemin was looking, he cocked his head over his shoulder, pointing at… “renjun.” jaemin breathed out. renjun stood there, shell-shocked and pale. renjun all but ran towards jaemin, ripping the book from his hands. renjun tried to act normal when jaemin looked at him worriedly. “it’s… it’s for a book i have been thinking of writing for a while. i want the main character to contract some kind of disease, for the plot line.” he made an excuse on the spot. immediately, jaemins face softened and he nodded. he was still a bit suspicious, but not enough to question it. 

“c’mon, we gotta get jeno home so he can shift back. i want cuddles, too. do you have any idea how stressed we were, trying to find you?” jaemin huffed, clinging to renjun, resting his head on his shoulder. renjun giggled when jeno licked his hand, sheepishly shrugging. “i was excited, i guess. let’s go, i’ll give you all the cuddles you want.” so they walked out of the library, an odd trio, waving to the librarian who smiled and whispered “ah, young love.” under her breath before returning to stacking shelves. renjun, jaemin and jeno ran all the way home, giggling when jaemin or renjun would trip over a stray root in the forests floor. as soon as they got home, they ran upstairs and jumped on the bed. jeno had to shift back and put some clothes on before they could. when he joined them, they squished renjun in the middle of them and all drifted to sleep, legs entangled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy renjun day! i'm a day late but whatever. happy renjun day anyway! <33


	8. renjun runs away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they were so colourful, but when they came, they came covered in blood. beauty absolutely destroyed by something much, much darker. and there was nothing he could do to stop them.

renjun looked towards the bed where jaemin and jeno were sleeping, careful to keep his steps light and quiet so he didn’t wake them. he slowly inched his suitcase out from under the bed, wincing when he stood it up as it made a small noise. he was careful with the zipper, ever so slowly unzipping it and leaving it open next to the bed. he crept to his closet, grabbing whatever he saw. renjun froze in his place when he saw jaemin moving in his sleep. it turned out to be nothing, so renjun continued to the suitcase, putting his shirts and pants in there before going to get shoes, warm clothes and toiletries. he didn’t know where he was going yet, just that he needed to leave before guilt swallowed him. unless, of course, the flowers in his chest did that for him. 

speaking of, his chest tightened at the thought of leaving jaemin and jeno behind. he felt an oncoming surge of coughs bubbling up his throat, so he grabbed his remaining belongings, zipped up the suitcase and ran. he ran all the way down the stairs, threw open the front door and ran. his suitcase dragged noisily on the floor behind him. surely he would’ve woken at least jaemin up. he knew jeno could sleep through a world war, but jaemin was a light sleeper. with all of his loud banging around, he had to have woken at least one of them. ignoring this thought, he focused on running. one foot in front of the other, repeat. 

the guilt had been eating him from the inside, consuming him faster than the flowers ever could. he couldn’t stand not telling anyone about his disease, so he ran. he was a coward. he knew he was, and yet he still ran. he ran until his lungs were burning, arms were burning from the weight of the suitcase. and yet, he knew the suitcase didn’t weigh him down nearly as much as the flowers did. nothing could even come close. nothing could ever come close. his eyes stung with tears, but he kept running. by now, he had no clue where he was. he had kept running for so long, had ran so far. he was almost at the edge of his limits, teetering dangerously on the edge of a cliff he might not be able to survive from if he were to fall. 

renjun fell to his knees, suitcase clattering noisily to the floor. his chest burned, his limbs ached. there was a lump in his throat that felt like it would become a permanent fixture in his everyday life. he sobbed, tears falling freely down his face. he cried for jaemin, he cried for jeno, he cried for everyone he’d ever hurt. he cried for the pain he felt, for the unbearable weight in his chest. he cried for his parents, for his old self who wasn’t so burdened. he cried for his current self, who had been through too much. he couldn’t handle it. he couldn’t do it. his sobs became borderline painful by this point. he knew that he was about to start coughing up the flowers again. those fucking flowers. 

they were so colourful, but when they came, they came covered in blood. beauty absolutely destroyed by something much, much darker. and there was nothing he could do to stop them. he coughed, and coughed, until the petals stopped. he cried until his tears stopped. broken, thats what renjun was. the shell of his old self. he coughed up the petals until he could no longer go on. he couldn’t continue living like this. renjun let out one final sob, a metallic taste in his mouth and bile in his throat, before he passed out on the cold earth beneath him. 

-

“you cannot be serious! he really just… fell?” yuta laughed. taeil nodded, hands clutching at nothing as he tried to contain his laughter. “he was walking, and then WHOOSH! on the floor! i thought he had better balance than that.” he wheezed, wrapping his arms around his stomach. sicheng laughed as well, sitting comfortably on taeils shoulder. “and no one tried to help him? not even lucas or doyoung?” sicheng pondered, shifting around a bit. “nope. knowing jungwoo, he’s more used to being in his other forms than human. his balance was probably a bit off because of that.” oh, sicheng. ever so over-analytical. 

yuta rolled his eyes. “it doesn’t matter what caused him to fall, sichengie. what matters is that he fell, and it’s funn- hang on, what is that?” yuta cut himself off, squinting somewhere into the bushes. sicheng rose from taeils shoulder, wings fluttering. “yuta- yuta, oh god, that’s a person!” sicheng flew quickly over to the figure whose face wasn’t visible. he was covered in bloody flower petals. what the fuck? taeil and yuta followed, panicked. a suitcase lay on the floor, covered in dirt a couple meters away from the figure. taeil gently reached out to the figure, turning it over so they could see its face. “shit, renjun?” yuta gasped. 

“someone help me lift him! what the fuck was he even doing out here? and with a suitcase?” taeil asked, bewildered. yuta jostled the dryad into a sitting position, lifting him up so taeil could take him. taeil did, grunting under the weight. “i don’t know. what’s important is getting him safe. i’ll take his suitcase.” sicheng shifted back into human form, grabbing the suitcase. they travelled as quickly as they could through the bush, trying not to wake renjun. they reached the village by around midday, and renjun hadn’t stirred. “take him to kun. i’ll get doyoung.” sicheng left the suitcase with yuta and shifted into faerie form once more. everyone knew that doyoung and renjun were super close, so it only made sense that he would be there. 

taeil shifted renjun in his arms, arms aching. he made his way to the small cottage just shy of the city centre, where kun owned a healers store. yuta held the door open for taeil. kun was sitting at the counter, taeyong on his lap. kun gestured taeyong off his lap, making him whine. “hello! can i help yo- holy shit. is that renjun?” taeil nodded wearily, kun hurrying over and taking the boy from his arms. taeil winced as he stretched out his arms. “he had this with him when we found him.” yuta pointed to the suitcase, battered and dirty. kun frowned, taeyong coming up and looking worriedly at renjun. “we found him in the forest, just lying there. we thought he was dead.” then, the door flung open again, and yuta and taeil jumped out of the way just as a very worried bunny hybrid rushed in. 

doyoung let out a short sob upon seeing renjun, dirty and bloodied. “what happened exactly? i want the full story.” yuta and taeil nodded, looking to doyoung who was gently stroking renjuns hair. kun looked towards the very crowded doorway. “we’ll move to the back room, okay?” kun turned, doyoung letting out a sound of protest but following anyway. “okay,” kun started when they were all sat in the back room, renjun lying on the biggest couch. doyoung sat facing him in case he woke up. “tell me everything.” so they did. they recounted the full story of how they were walking through the forest, and happened upon renjun. “and you don’t know why he was there?” taeil shook his head. “he was already out cold when we got there. he was absolutely covered in bloody flower petals though, it was odd.” 

kun nodded. “well, i think the best thing to do would be to just wait until he wakes up. we’ll sort things out when he wakes.” doyoung rested his head on the arm of the couch, curling up and making himself as small as possible. taeyong came up to him and sat with him. “it’s okay, he’s going to be okay.” kun sadly smiled at the pair. “you two are welcome to stay here with him as well. i need to be up front in case anyone comes in unfortunately.” taeil and yuta nodded, joining taeyong and doyoung. yuta sat in front of doyoung and gently took one of his hands as a comfort for him. renjun would be fine. he had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i made u guys wait so long! my school shut down on friday lmao


	9. taekun find out renjuns secret 0.o

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun cheekily smiled. "details are not to be disclosed unless i say so."

kun, once again, stood behind the counter in his herb store. “he was covered in bloody flower petals. flower petals covered in blood. bloody flower petals. where have i heard that before?” kun mused to himself. he thought back to the many books he had studied, trying to find any information that could help him. he gasped suddenly, taeyong poking his head through the doorway. “everything okay?” he asked, ears twitching. “yongie, he has hanahaki disease! that’s why he was covered in bloody flower petals!” taeyong looked confused before his face lit up in understanding. he then winced. kun would’ve laughed at how expressive he was if the situation hadn’t been so dire. 

“he’s dying.” taeyong simply stated. kun nodded, sighing. “he’s… dying. kunnie, he’s dying!” the severity of it must have dawned on taeyong, for he suddenly started freaking out. “i know, taeyong. i know. we need to find out who he’s in love with so we can see if we have a chance at saving him. we’ll talk to him when he wakes up. okay, baby?” taeyong nodded, letting out a small purr when kun stroked over his ears. “i should tell them. the others, that is.” taeyong muttered, leaning to rest his head on kuns chest. kun blanched. “yong, yongie, renjun would be devastated if we told everyone without his permission. ask him first, when we talk to him later.” taeyong nodded against kuns chest. 

yuta peeked his head through the doorway. “he’s awake. barely, but still awake.” taeyong ran into the back room with yuta, kun hurrying to close the shop before joining them as well. “okay, renjunnie? can you hear me?” kun asked, a hand on renjuns pale face. renjun groaned softly, stretching his limbs out on the couch. “mhm.” was all the reply kun got. kun breathed a sigh of relief. doyoung came forward next, still crouched in front of the sofa. “injunnie? can you open your eyes for me, please?” renjun groggily rubbed his eyes, squinting up at them. he smiled lazily at doyoung. “hello, everyone!” renjun chirped. everyone looked bewilderedly at the dryad, happily lying on the couch. 

“why are you so happy? i found you passed out in the middle of the forest!” taeil exclaimed. renjun frowned. “oh, you did? what was i doing?” taeil sighed, hand coming to rub at his temples. “you had that,” he gestured to the dirty suitcase, “with you, and you were absolutely covered in bloody flower petals! explain.” he demanded. “oh. i was running away from jaemin and jeno.” doyoung stood up suddenly. “why? what the fuck did they do? i swear, i’ll kill them.” he started towards the door, sicheng pushing him back. “let him explain.” sicheng said softly. doyoung clenched his jaw, but turned back towards renjun anyway. 

“renjun, i need to talk to you after this, okay?” kun said, running a hand through his hair. renjun nodded, biting his lip. “now that that’s settled, please explain.” renjun thought for a moment. “ah, i remember. so, i went to the library to do research and ended up falling asleep there. jaemin and jeno got worried, came to look for me, and found me in the library. i went to put my books away, but i accidentally left one behind and when i came back jaemin was looking through the pages i bookmarked.” he let out a small huff before continuing. “he questioned me so i lied and said it was for a book i want to write. the pages i bookmarked would raise too much suspicion.”

sicheng, curious, interrupted him. “what were the pages you bookmarked about?” renjun waved a dismissive hand at him. “not important. anyway, we went back to mine and cuddled. then, at like, four in the morning, i woke up because jenos’ body heat is too much. stupid werewolf heat. then, i packed my suitcase and ran. and that must be when those three found me.” he finished. yuta raised a brow. “okay, but why did you pass out?” renjun smiled cheekily. “details are not to be disclosed unless i say so.” kun sent a look to taeyong, taeyong sticking his tongue out back at him. kun shook his head as a warning. ‘not likely he’s going to let you tell everyone.’ kun mouthed. taeyong pouted.

taeil, yuta and sicheng whispered to each other for a brief moment. “well, we better get going now. i’ll see you guys later.” sicheng said, shifting back into faerie form and flitting onto yutas shoulder. doyoung nodded. “i know he’s fine now, so i’ll get going too. jaehyun is probably worried.” renjun nodded from his spot on the couch. “bye-bye doyoungie.” doyoung waved once more, disappearing through the doorway. kun waved him out, taeyong coming to cling onto kuns’ arm. taeyong detached himself from kuns’ arm almost as quickly as he had attached to it, walking to the couch where renjun lay. he gently moved renjun up to a sitting position, sitting down next to him. “renjunnie. kun and i know what’s wrong with you.” renjun blanched. “how? i made sure to keep it secret.” taeyong shushed him.

kun came and crouched in front of renjun. “just to confirm, you have hanahaki disease, correct?” renjun shakily nodded. “okay. would you be okay with telling us who you’re in love with?” renjuns eyes filled with tears. noticing this, taeyong placed a reassuring hand on renjuns knee. “it’s okay if you don’t want to tell us.” renjun shook his head. “i’ll tell you. it’s jaemin and jeno, which is why i ran away from them.” taeyongs whole demeanour changed. “oh. that’s awkward.” renjun snorted, though he didn’t really find anything that funny. “yeah, i guess so.” taeyong ran his hand reassuringly up and down renjuns thigh. 

renjun let out a shuddering sigh. “i can’t tell them. i don’t know what i would do with myself if they found out. and god, if they ever found out how i feel about them… i’m scared.” he admitted, more to himself than to taeyong and kun. kun sat properly on the floor, his legs tired from crouching. “taeyongie?” he looked towards taeyong. “you wanna ask him?” taeyong nodded in response. “injunnie, you don’t have to agree with this, but if it’s okay with you i’d like to tell the others. not jaemin and jeno, but everyone else.” his voice was soft and alluring as he spoke, hoping to get renjun on board. renjun considered it. he didn’t think anyone would react over-the-top about it, except for doyoung. doyoung had been named ‘king of reactions’ for a reason. 

he trusts everyone enough to know that they wouldn’t dare tell jaemin and jeno, either. “i guess? just make sure no one reacts too badly, please.” taeyong nodded, relieved. “i’ll call a meeting in the diner. do you know where jaemin and jeno are?” renjun shook his head. “and do you want to come along to the diner?” renjun wordlessly nodded. taeyong addressed kun next. “can you call everyone and tell them to be at the diner in ten?” kun nodded, getting his phone out from his pocket. after mentioning it was incredibly important, everyone agreed that they would come, even if they had prior engagements. 

within ten minutes, everyone was gathered in the diner and sat at their normal booth. “renjunnie, do you want to tell them or shall i?” renjun looked down at his lap. “you tell them. i’d end up crying.” taeyong took his hand and squeezed it gently. “everyone.” everyone turned to look at taeyong attentively. “renjun is dying.” there was a burst of noise, taeyong wincing at the volume. he continued, everyone shushing to listen. “he has a disease called hanahaki disease,” some of the members nodded in understanding, having already known what it is, while others cocked their heads confusedly. “this disease is caused by having an unrequited love, which is why jeno and jaemin aren’t here with us today. renjun is in love with jaemin and jeno.” he was interrupted by yangyang. “okay, but what does the disease do? like, i know it kills whoever contracts it, but how?” 

taeyong looked at him blankly, continuing. “he has flowers growing on his lungs. they die soon enough, but when they die, he coughs the petals back up. when the disease gets worse, he’ll start to vomit them up. eventually, the flowers will adapt to living in such an environment that they’ll stay for longer and grow bigger. in the final stages, they can get as big as baseballs. the flowers will spread all throughout the torso as well. eventually, the flowers will be so big and so many that renjunnies lungs will be completely engulfed and he will not be able to breath. in other words, he’ll die.” most people at the tables faces were ashy pale. 

there was an interruption again, this time from lucas. “is there any way to cure this?” taeyong nodded. “it can be cured through a surgical removal, or, if the unrequited love loves them back romantically.” renjun lifted his head, scanning everyones faces. there was a mix of shock, sadness and pity in everyones eyes. “so basically, i’m fucked.” he spoke up, for the first time since the meeting started. “man… i’m sorry. if i could hug you right now, i would.” spoke xiaojun, who had been sitting on guanhengs lap. renjun shrugged. “i’ll miss you guys when… y’know… it happens. who knows? maybe i’ll end up like mark and be a ghost.” he joked, trying to lighten the mood. he was again met with pitiful stares. 

a sniff came from the other side of the table. of course it was jungwoo. “no, why are you crying? you aren’t meant to cry!” said renjun, leaning across the table to wipe jungwoos’ tears. doyoung soon followed, silently crying onto jaehyuns’ shoulder. pretty soon, everyone was crying except for kun and taeyong. even renjun was crying, hugging everyone one-by-one and apologising. “guys, we should start to head back now.” kun tried to say, mostly drowned out by everyone crying. “guys!” he yelled. everyone stopped hugging and looked at kun. “it’s getting pretty late, we should wrap up the meeti-.” the bell to the diner rang, and in came jaemin and jeno, panting and wild-eyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed, sorry for slow updates :D  
> ily <33


	10. chapter 10.1 (there's multiple parts)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so chapter 10 is going to be separated into parts, 2 pairings per chapter. this is kind of a build up towards chap 11 bc chap 11 is where things begin to get spicy!!! 
> 
> chap 10 is purely going to be fluffy bc we need soft moments to lead up to drama hehe
> 
> extra long chap to make up for the wait <33

“why was there a meeting called without us? why were we the only people excluded?” jaemin crossed his arms over his chest. jeno growled threateningly when taeyong tried to take a step forward, tried to explain the situation. johnny stepped forward next, ignoring jenos growl. “look, it’s not important. we were just wrapping up when you two came in.” jaemin looked exasperatedly up at johnny. “if it’s not important, then why was everyone hugging? why was everyone crying?” johnny didn’t seem to have an answer for that. 

“look, that doesn’t matter. what matters now is leaving. i’m too tired for this, so good-fucking-night to you all.” grouched donghyuck, marching his way through the small crowd. neither jaemin nor jeno attempted to stop him. they watched him leave, jaws clenched. “look, we can’t tell you why, so just accept that we have privacy and leave it.” johnny spat. jaemin stepped forward, mouth open like he was about to say something. jeno stopped him, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. he only shook his head, turning and walking out of the door. jaemin gave one last glare before following. 

kun let out a sigh of relief, bringing taeyong closer and hugging him. renjun looked close to tears. taeyong sighed, freeing himself from kuns hold. “i have an idea. could someone please go get donghyuck?” yangyang volunteered, so by default dejun and guanheng went along with him. when they returned, taeyong seated everyone else but remained standing himself so he could address the group as a whole. “okay. plan is, because renjun’s days are limited, we should make them as fun as we possibly can.” jaehyun shifted forwards in his seat. “what do you mean by that?” taeyong smiled, clasping his hands in front of him. “i propose that we each host an activity each day, for renjun.” 

-

it started with taeyong and kun, as it was their idea. they lead renjun out to the closest bus stop, around a kilometre down the road from the village. “where are we going?” renjun whined, having gotten on the near-empty bus. the bus trundled down the long, winding road. kun grinned. “you’ll see. patience, injunnie.” renjun huffed, grumpily sitting back on the seat. “don’t be such a baby. you’ll love it, promise.” taeyong laughed. renjun only glared jokingly back at him. the bus continued on, the thick bush on either side of the road thinning out, making room for urbanisation.

the houses flashed by, becoming more by the second. renjun watched it all with fascination. it wasn’t like he had never seen urbanisation before, but he rarely leaves the village. kun and taeyong looked at renjuns enraptured expression, fond smiles blooming on their faces. the road eventually turned to a crossroads, renjun looking excitedly out at all the cars. “okay, we’re almost there.” kun pushed the button on the nearest pole for the bus to stop. it rolled to a stop no less than twenty metres later. 

“okay, renjun. you ready?” kun asked, moving his hand up to cover renjuns eyes as he lead them away from the road. “aaaand… we’re here!” taeyong exclaimed. kun uncovered renjuns eyes, renjun gasping once he saw his surroundings. “you guys!” he squealed, flailing his arms in excitement. “how did you know i wanted to go here?” he gasped. “we figured, as you’re a dryad and all.” the botanical gardens seemed to stretch on for miles, and renjun could see a little cafe shaded by the trees. renjun had a massive smile on his face that didn’t seem to want to leave. 

kun and taeyong watched fondly as renjun ran around the neatly arranged garden, naming all of the flowers and their meanings. “and this one, this one is a camellia and they symbolise love, affection and admiration. they’re one of my favourite flowers. oh! i see a poinsettia bush! you know, they symbolise hope and purity?” kun shook his head. “i didn’t know that, thank you for teaching me.” renjun beamed at that. “he’s so adorable.” taeyong sighed, fond smile never once leaving his face. “kunnie! taeyongie! do you know how to make flower crowns?” taeyong shook his head, fluffy ears perk and alert on the top of his head. “no, i don’t. why don’t you teach me?” renjun scanned the gardens, looking for a suitable flower to make crowns out of. he settled for the most basic flower that had quite a malleable stem. daisies, of course. 

“okay. first step, gather about six or seven flowers.” kun and taeyong did so, patiently waiting for their next instruction. renjun gathered his own, demonstrating how to weave them together. “and then you need to make sure that the heads of the flowers don’t get squished when you weave the stems together. bam! you have a flower crown.” taeyong looked down at his flower crown proudly, holding it up so renjun could see. “exactly! yay! taeyongie got it. what about you, kun?” kun laughed, holding up his flower crown. “i failed, so i just used my powers to make one. i’ve never been good at crafts.” 

renjun burst out laughing at that, placing his flower crown on kuns head. kun followed by placing his on renjuns head. taeyong pouted, having no ones head to place his flower crown on. renjun laughed and took kuns off his head, placing it on taeyongs. taeyong smiled, then placing his flower crown on renjuns head. “should we go to the cafe?” renjun stood immediately, taeyong and kun standing with him. renjun linked arms with them and started skipping, forcing the other two along with him. “can i get ice cream?” renjun begged. “of course you can, this was for you.” kun replied, a warm, tingly feeling that could only be described as pure affection spread through his chest. 

-

next was doyoung and jaehyun, doyoung having insisted that he be next. he claimed it was, “unfair! that’s my baby! i should get to go first!” but he had to settle for second. “can you tell me where we’re going?” renjun asked. doyoung shook his head. “nope.” was his simple reply. “but why? kun and taeyong wouldn’t tell me either!” he whined. “where is jaehyun?” doyoung muttered, impatiently tapping his foot and ignoring whatever renjun was whining about. renjun pouted once he saw he was being ignored. “doyoung, don’t ignore me.” renjun whined, shaking doyoungs arm. 

doyoung continued to ignore him, however, squinting into the sunlight and trying to find his boyfriend. “doyoung!” renjun heard jaehyun call. “there you are! renjun was getting impatient.” renjun rolled his eyes. sure, he was the one getting impatient. right. jaehyun smiled, dimples carving adorable craters into his cheeks. he was holding some kind of wicker basket in his hand, which renjun could see had packaged food in it. he jumped excitedly. “we’re going on a picnic, aren’t we?” he asked, clinging to doyoungs arm. doyoung sighed. “yeah, we are. let’s go!” jaehyun said enthusiastically.

renjun happily skipped along, telling doyoung all about his outing with kun and taeyong the day prior. doyoung nodded to what renjun was saying, already having heard the full recount from kun. jaehyun gave the basket and picnic blanket to doyoung, offering a piggy-back ride to renjun. renjun hopped on with an excited little, “yay!” at which doyoung chuckled at affectionately. jaehyun started running, renjun whooping loudly. the game trail they were following was thin, lined with thick underbrush, moss and dead leaves. it looked like it hadn’t been used in a while. 

a rabbit hopped from one side of the path to the other, barely being missed by jaehyuns feet. doyoung watched the bunny hop away, further into the thick underbrush. renjun pointed at the bunny. “doyoung, it’s you!” jaehyun couldn’t contain his laughter. renjun giggled, too, at doyoungs annoyed expression. “just- just continue walking.” doyoung mumbled, face flushing red. jaehyun nodded, grin still printed on his face. the game trail widened out, making way for a gentle trail of brown dirt. renjun began to recognise the area, tapping jaehyuns shoulder rapidly. 

“the lake! that’s where we’re going.” he firmly stated, looking to doyoung for confirmation. doyoung smiled. “smartass. yes, we’re going to the lake. i took a different route to confuse you.” renjuns eyebrows scrunched together, pouting. “i still don’t see why you couldn’t have just told me.” jaehyun shook his head. “ruins the element of surprise.” he hoisted renjun further up onto his back as he had started to slip slightly. jaehyun started to run again, just as the path through the forest ended, giving way to a grassy bank leading to the lake. 

they moved near the old, abandoned cottage just shy of the edge of the forest, climbing up onto its still intact veranda. doyoung asked jaehyun to brush away the leaves and debris from the veranda, spreading the blanket out across the floor when he was done. they set the basket in the very centre of the blanket, settling themselves at different ends. doyoung started to unpack the basket, and renjuns stomach let out a loud growl sound. there were various finger-foods such as chips and candies, but there was also an assortment of foods that required cutlery, such as pasta or salad. 

there were drinks as well, sodas and the likes. doyoung glared at jaehyun when he saw he had snuck in some raspberry mead as well. jaehyun grinned cheekily back at him. when all the food was set out, they ate until they felt as if they were going to burst. renjun groaned and fell back, resting his head on doyoungs thigh. “‘m so full.” he mumbled. doyoung brought a hand up and started playing with renjuns hair. “we all are.” he mumbled back. “why’d you bring so much food then?” renjun whined. “we knew you’d eat a lot. plus, you’re so skinny. eat more.” doyoung said, pushing renjuns hair away from his forehead. 

a low creak sounded out, coming from the door of the very much (hopefully) empty house. “oh shit.” jaehyun said, head snapping towards the door. the door had opened a crack. “fuck no, i’m not dealing with paranormal shit today!” they hear an offended, “hey!” from inside the house, so they pack up their stuff as fast as they can and run. the offender appears to be running after them, though they can’t really hear him as he’s probably a ghost. “guys, guys! it’s just me!” jaehyun stopped running first, recognising the voice. doyoung and renjun stopped running around five metres away from jaehyun. “mark?” marks figure wavered in the light, translucent as always. 

“why’d you run?” mark asked, scanning over their flushed faces. they were deep in the forest by now, probably lost. “because you were in a fucking abandoned house! how were we supposed to react?” doyoung spluttered out, dropping the picnic basket on the dirt. mark shrugged, looking around at their surroundings. “i think we’re lost.” mark bluntly stated, floating towards renjun. “renjunnie, we’re lost.” mark decided then, to be a show off, and floated straight through a tree. jaehyun rolled his eyes at the display. “follow me, guys! i’ll get us back. i go here all the time.” mark called, continuously floating through various solid objects.

they trudged along, almost losing sight of mark whenever he floated through a patch of light that obscured his figure. they reached the village after about an hour of walking through seemingly endless bush. “i’m so tired.” jaehyun groaned, dragging his feet on the floor. “i thought vampires couldn’t get tired?” mark wondered. jaehyun breathlessly laughed. “nah, that’s just johnny.” mark nodded, floating along aimlessly. donghyuck came running up to them, waving wildly at mark. “where the fuck have you been? you missed dinner! dejun came over and made us all these desserts, he even made us a special chinese dessert but you missed it! it’s probably all gone by now, knowing guanheng and yangyang…” his voice trailed off as he got further and further away, dragging mark along. 

“well, i better go back to my house.” renjun said, pulling doyoung and jaehyun in for a hug. “thank you for today! bye-bye!” renjun called, running cutely in the direction of his house. “cute.” doyoung breathed out, watching him go until renjun went out of eyeshot. “just adopt him already.” jaehyun chuckled. doyoung sent him a glare again, but still took his hand and intwined their fingers. “let’s go back home, i need a nap. all that food made me sleepy.” jaehyun smiled softly at doyoung. “okay, let’s go. can we cuddle when we get home as well?” doyoung nodded sleepily, bending down to rest his head on jaehyuns shoulder as they walked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you guys for reading and sorry for making u wait <33


	11. ANOTHER CHAPTER FINALLY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so!! sorry!!! for the wait!!!!! D: forgive me pls

the next to go was donghyuck and mark, as donghyuck has, “best friend rights.” again, they wouldn’t tell renjun where they were going, but renjun knew that mark was easy to break in his best of times. “renjunnie, i know you’re going to ask where we’re going, but before you do that, shut the fuck up.” donghyuck said in lieu of a proper, nice greeting like ‘best friends’ are supposed to do. renjun pouted at donghyuck, stomping his foot on the ground. he turned to mark to ask him instead, but donghyuck turned him back around and stuck a finger in his face. “don’t you dare try to convince mark to tell you. he’s innocent. do not corrupt him with your evil, you wench!” renjun gave his absolute best glare, donghyuck smirking in response. 

donghyuck waved them down a path, skipping ahead. renjun ran to catch up, grabbing hold of donghyucks hand when he reached him. mark flitted between trees beside them, occasionally phasing through them when he couldn’t be bothered going around them. donghyuck shoved a bucket into marks hand when he wasn’t looking, mark getting startled and phasing, causing the bucket to fall to the ground. its contents spilled over the floor, donghyuck letting out an unholy screech and covering renjuns eyes before he could see. renjun grabbed at donghyucks hand, trying to dislodge it from his face. donghyuck screeched again, right in renjuns ear. 

“ow! you idiot! you’re going to burst my fucking eardrum!” renjun shouted, blindly lashing out at donghyuck. he managed to land a hit, where he wasn’t sure, but it made donghyuck drop his hands. “don’t cover my eyes then, you oversized child!” renjun spat. “okay, well, don’t hit me, you… you undersized pot plant!” renjun gasped. “did you just call me undersized? are you implying that i’m short? excuse me?!” mark stood, wide-eyed, a few feet away from them. he couldn’t understand how they considered themselves best friends when stuff like this happens every day. he only sighed, picking the contents up from the floor and back into the bucket. 

“guys, can we get to the clearing before nightfall? please?” mark asked, exasperated. donghyuck turned warily from an angry renjun, nodding. “truce?” he proposed, holding his hand out to renjun for a handshake. renjun glared, but shook his hand nonetheless. donghyuck decided that it would be funny to break the truce a small bit, using his plant manipulation to make a small flower sprout from the top of renjuns head. it went unnoticed by the other dryad, mark merely rolling his eyes with a fond smile directed at donghyuck. they approached the clearing, scaring off the few birds scattered around. donghyuck signalled to mark, mark nodding and handing him the bucket. 

the plan was in action. “hey, renjunnie. shut your eyes, we have a surprise for you.” renjun clapped excitedly, shutting his eyes and waiting expectantly. mark almost felt bad for him, he looked so cute and mark didn’t want to ruin that. oh, well. donghyuck would kill him if he ruined his carefully thought-out plan. reaching cautiously into the bucket, donghyuck grabbed a few of the colourful items in there. he mouthed a sarcastic, ‘sorry, renjunnie’ before lobbing a water balloon straight at renjun. it hit him square on the chest, water exploding everywhere. an offended gasp was torn from renjuns throat as he opened his eyes. there was a glint in his eyes that donghyuck was slightly afraid of. alas, he would show no weakness, and instead threw another one. 

this one renjun dodged, running at donghyuck and wrenching the bucket from his grip. he grabbed out a few balloons, lobbing them in quick succession at donghyuck. they hit him each time, donghyuck squealing when they burst. mark occasionally would be the victim of renjuns harsh throws, being surprised and not having time to phase out to avoid them. once, donghyuck threw one directly at the back of marks head, causing mark to fall forward rather ungracefully. he got up with a glare, though he took it good-naturedly and smiled almost immediately afterwards. relieved, donghyuck persisted in pummelling renjun with the balloons. the balloons obviously ran out at some point. all three of them collapsed onto the grass, bucket lying somewhere to their right. they were soaking wet and covered in small bits of the balloons that had popped. 

the clearing was now a colourful, wet mess. they lay there, shaded by the trees, chests rising and falling rapidly with exertion. mark had thrown his arm over his face, donghyuck had balloon parts in his hair, and renjun was completely soaked, head to toe. donghyuck was so lucky it was hot out today. if it wasn’t and renjun had gotten sick, doyoung would have something to say to donghyuck. doyoung was very overprotective of renjun. renjun knew it was for a good reason, though. he thought of doyoung as an almost parental figure, and he knew doyoung thought of him as his child. maybe not by birth, but almost as soon as doyoung saw renjun he had just felt as if he needed protecting. 

renjun pushed himself into a sitting position, feeling as if someone was watching him. he scanned the messy circle of trees, peering into the underbrush to see if he could see anything. renjun felt a prickling on the back of his neck, so he turned around and caught sight of a figure in the trees. he stood, and the figure- wait! there were more than one. the figures froze as renjun stood, creeping closer towards them even though he knew he probably shouldn’t. the figure on the left raised a hand, waving at him. the other figure let out a small growl from the back of his throat. renjun almost let a gasp out, but shut his mouth before he could. it was jaemin and jeno. of course it was! renjun felt the burning pain in his chest yet again, stumbling back with an “oof!” that alerted mark and donghyuck.

renjuns chest and throat burned incessantly, the urge to cough becoming stronger. he hadn’t coughed the petals up in so long- since he last saw jaemin and jeno, probably. his whole body heaved as he coughed up what must’ve been over a hundred petals. he could faintly hear donghyuck yelling at jaemin and jeno, the underbrush crackling with every threatening step donghyuck took towards them, while mark attempted to get through to renjun. donghyuck must have chased jaemin and jeno away, because when the petals no longer came and renjun was free to breathe again, they weren’t anywhere in sight. they always leave when renjun needs them the most. 

-

“it’s too high!” renjun heard guanheng squeal from where he was sat on his dapple grey gelding, who looked how renjun felt- in pain from guanhengs complaining. “suck it up, you big baby!” yelled yangyang, reining in his bay mare who was dead set on throwing him off. “you have it so easy, so shut up!” yangyang yelled, his mare pig rooting. yangyang lost a stirrup and the horse almost bolted with him, but he stopped her before she could really go anywhere. “so is guanheng the only one who doesn’t know how to ride out of us?” renjun asked, clucking his horse forwards and giving a light kick to her flank. “yeah, we tried to teach him but he refused to learn, even with todd.” dejun said, gesturing to the lazy-looking gelding that guanheng was clutching onto for dear life. 

dejun rolled his eyes, walking his horse forwards to correct guanhengs position. “don’t be so scared. he’s the chillest horse we own.” renjun laughed when dejun had to physically pry guanhengs fingers off of the reins to correct the position of his hands. “feet, dejun. correct his feet. i’m gonna have an aneurysm if i look at his upward-pointing heels any longer.” yangyang joked. “what breed is todd?” renjun questioned, bringing his horse to a halt. “thoroughbred. doesn’t look it, does he? off the track too.” dejun said loftily, tightening the girth on todds saddle. renjun snorted out a laugh, disbelieving. an off the track thoroughbred that was this lazy? almost impossible. 

they hadn’t left the stables yet, probably due to guanhengs insistent, “no! i’m too scared!” before he even got on the horse. renjun almost felt bad for dejun and yangyang as they had spent money on todd and buying green tack to match the green tint of guanhengs skin. they all had matching tack with their respective horses- blue for dejun and orange for yangyang. all this money wasted because guanheng was too scared. ‘isn’t my money.’ renjun thought, grinning to himself. “okay, shall we go?” yangyang said, noting that dejun had finished correcting guanheng. guanheng gave a reluctant nod, then they were off. 

they started slow, for guanhengs sake. they got a nice, steady, brisk walk going. dejun lead them in single file, renjun, guanheng and yangyang following. dejuns’ suggestion of going a bit faster was immediately shut down by guanheng who looked absolutely mortified by the idea of going faster. “how about i stay back with guanheng and you two go a bit faster. we’ll catch up.” yangyang suggested. dejun pondered for a second before deciding that, yes, they could do that. “we’ll meet you guys at the gumtree down by kuns herb field.” dejun called. “you ready to go, renjun? we’ll start with trot just to get them warmed up, but then we’ll move on to canter and then gallop. sound good?” renjun nodded, an excited grin spreading on his face. “see you later!” renjun called as he and dejun trotted away. 

it took around five minutes of trotting for dejun to turn in his saddle, still rising to the trot (‘showoff.’) and ask if he was ready to go faster. “i’m ready like, yesterday.” dejun laughed, turning back to the front and kicking his horse into canter, renjun following. “good girl!” he breathed at his gypsy cob, who transitioned easily into canter. the wind blew back renjuns hair as they increased speed, now galloping down the overgrown gravel track. they had all decided (with the exception of guanheng) to forgo helmets. not very smart of them, but they didn’t care. renjun laughed joyfully, his horses muscles flexing as she moved. “do you wanna go jump?” dejun called, slowing his horse to a steady canter. renjun scanned the fields on either side of the track, looking quizzically at dejun. “where? there’s no logs or anything.” dejun just winked, kicking his horse back into gallop. 

renjun followed, though he was still confused. they got to a small slope in the track, slowing their horses so they wouldn’t slip on the loose rocks. dejun pointed at a fence shrouded in bushes at the very top of the track, where it ends and a field stretches out for a kilometre or so. renjun hadn’t been up there before. “there’s a cross country course further down the field that the owners let me use. we can go jump there.” dejun stated, leaning down to unlatch the gate. renjun smiled to himself, wondering how his cob would go trying to jump. they eased into a steady trot to not wear the horses out too much, rising easily to the rhythm. the course was in sight within a minute, renjun speeding up his horse and galloping towards it. dejun yelled an offended, “hey!” before galloping after him.

the horses were racing now, chests heaving as they galloped full speed towards the course. renjuns body moved easily with the horse in fluid, practiced movements. they slowed their horses down, going into single file as they approached the first jump. dejun was in the lead, his horse throwing her head in excitement. the jump didn’t look too high, probably around 80cm. renjun slowed more, bringing his horse to a halt to watch dejun and his horse gracefully fly over the jump. dejuns body automatically shifted into two-point as his horse took off, lifting his body from the seat of the saddle almost effortlessly. renjun moved his horse so he was a good distance from the jump to get his horse into canter from. “hang on! someone’s calling.” dejun called, renjun having to stop his horse again. 

dejun took his phone out from the inner pocket of his coat, smiling when he saw the caller id. “yes, yangyangie?” he cooed into the phone. renjun watched awkwardly from a distance, fiddling with a loose thread on the saddle pad. renjun heard dejun sigh, followed by a small, “okay yangie. we’ll be there soon. love you too.” renjun cocked his head questioningly. “guanheng was too scared to continue and apparently wants cuddles. they’re back at the stables now, so we gotta go.” dejun explained, reining his horse to face back where they came from. renjun nodded, turning his horse away from the jump. “race you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am back, and hopefully i can get myself off my ass in future and actually finish some chapters in a reasonable amount of time 
> 
> thank u all tho <333


	12. I LIED-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! its been a while,,,,,,  
> here's the new chapter! i was too impatient to get back to the main storyline that i kinda gave up on writing all the outings that the various pack members had with renjun 
> 
> i hope u enjoy this chapter! it's not the best but hopefully it'll tug at a few of u guys' heartstrings ;-;

renjun couldn’t do this anymore. the pure, unadulterated pain in his chest whenever he saw jaemin and jeno was too much. way too much. he loves the rest of his pack members, he really does, but he had to do this for his own sake. his wellbeing is the most important thing at this moment, right? yes. he had to do this. it might hurt jeno and jaemin, but fuck them. or not. god, renjun was so conflicted. he already had half of his bags packed, what was stopping him?

renjun sat heavily on his bed, a blank expression on his face. his bags and various clothes were scattered around him, on the floor and some even on his bedside table. what was stopping him? jeno and jaemin certainly weren’t; they were the sole reason for his departure. his own hesitance was inexplicable. why couldn’t he just up and leave? why was it so hard for him to leave this? renjun’s own house was more of jaemin and jeno’s at this point, jeno having taken over renjun’s wardrobe to nest. they only left when renjun was there, which was almost never. 

if not for himself, for who? if he were to leave for anyone else rather than himself, it’d be jaemin and jeno of course. to spare them the pain of having to interact with a dying friend when they don’t know a thing about it. or, more accurately, to spare renjun the pain of having to interact with them when they don’t know a thing about it. determination renewed, renjun stood back up and packed his bags. 

-

“renjun?” renjun turned at the sound of his name, almost dropping one of his bags. “sh-shit, hi, kun.” renjun replied, fumbling. “what are you doing here? where are you going?” kun asked, biting his lip. “uh- you see, i’m going… away.” renjun replied, refusing to lock eyes with kun. “going where?” kun pressed. “i’m going to the capital.” renjun confessed, chest feeling heavy and weighed down. “wh-why? are you leaving permanently?” kun worried, staring at renjun’s many bags. “no, not permanently.”

“why so many bags then? how long will you be gone?” kun questioned. “i-i don’t know, kun. i’m scared. i’m so scared.” renjun finally let himself go, the tears rolling down his cheeks rapidly. “it’s just- jaemin and jeno- the flowers- it’s too much, kun.” renjun sobs, letting go of his bags to latch onto kun. upon seeing renjun break, kun held him tightly, jaw clenched in an attempt to stop any tears. “i-i understand if you feel like you need to leave, but would you mind telling me why?” kun asked, eyes glossy. 

renjun nods, taking a shaky breath. “it’s because if i move away, i might lose feelings for jaemin and jeno. a-and i know it isn’t- isn’t definite, but the least i can do is try. you n-never know ’til you try, right?” kun only held renjun tighter. “if you have to. are you flying there? train?” renjun hums. “well, plane tickets are expensive, so i’m going to go on the train.” kun nods, refusing to let go of renjun just yet. “i’ll organise that for you, then. luggage storage and whatnot.” renjun almost broke down in tears again. 

kun had always been somewhat of a parent figure to renjun, especially when he was younger. to leave this all behind- to leave kun behind- was leaving a massive chunk of himself behind. it was too late to turn back now, he had made up his mind and was going to stick with his decision, no matter who tried to convince him to stay. “thank you. i love you, kun.” kun pressed his cheek to the top of renjun’s head, nestled comfortably on kun’s shoulder. “love you too. i’ll take you to the train station too. anyone else you wanna say goodbye to?” 

renjun didn’t even need to think. “doyoung. bring donghyuckie, too.” he thought for a second, scanning through the members of their mismatched pack in his head quickly. “and maybe chenle.” he decided. kun nods. “the van should be enough to hold all of us, plus your luggage.” renjun was truly so grateful for kun. renjun’s hands curled into fists, holding kun’s shirt tightly. “let’s go get them, then, hm?”

-

in the van, renjun was squished between donghyuck and chenle, both boys crying and holding each of renjun’s hands. chenle was mumbling out, “don’t go, don’t leave me.” in between hiccuping sobs. “i’m sorry, chenle. it’s for the better.” doyoung hadn’t said much the entire drive to the station, out of fear of crying. renjun could see kun’s face in the mirror up at the front of the van. he looked to be holding back tears. renjun felt so, so guilty for leaving them so suddenly. 

taeyong had been told to notify the rest of the pack who wouldn’t be able to see renjun off per renjun’s request. renjun felt bad, but the more people who came to see him off, the more he’d want to stay. knowing himself, he would definitely stay. but right now, his bags packed and him on the way to the station, there really was no other choice. the other pack members weren’t here to convince him to stay, anyway. the van pulled up to the station, renjun so lost in his thoughts while trying to console donghyuck and chenle he didn’t take much notice. 

“we’re here.” kun called, voice strained. chenle pressed his face into renjun’s shoulder, tears still steadily flowing. donghyuck’s grip on renjun’s hand was nearly bruising. “c’mon, guys. renjun will come back soon, i’m sure.” doyoung speaks for the first time since departure. renjun wasn’t so sure. he had a whole plethora of his own issues to sort through while away, and he could only stay until the flowers had gone. he wasn’t even sure if they would go. they were stubborn, rooted. although it may not work, he figured the least he could do was try. and try he would, even if it killed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY FOR INCONSISTENT POSTS


	13. not a chapter, sorry

hi guys!

im here to notify u guys (i forgot to earlier) that this story is currently on hold. i apologise for leaving this story by the wayside for a while, but i'll be back soon!

thank u guys!

**Author's Note:**

> first chapter is up! sorry it's so short ;-; i spent like 3 days pondering over whether i should post this or not cfghjnfvgbh  
> also, i didnt mention jaemin and jenos kind(?) but i'll do that later on for ppl who havent read the tags  
> enjoy!!


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